As I approach my first holiday season since embarking on my ocean-friendly journey, I'm still trying to find my bearings around the eco-friendly world. When thinking about gifts though, I automatically started thinking about all the waste and started looking into what wrapping materials are made of. Surprise: not good stuff! For the most part...
I've been doing a bit of research into easy-to-find alternatives to the conventional options and I have to admit, I'm quite proud of the things I found! So without further ado, here are XX gift wrapping ideas that are kind to the environment.
TRADITIONAL BOX GIFTS
Ask anyone in my family, my first trick is something I've actually been doing for years! I love to have simple and minimalist wrapping and so I've been wrapping gifts in Kraft paper and/or recycled paper. It's easy to find (and cheap) in art stores and can even be found in different colours. First of all, I've been accumulating various boxes from online orders, and this is what I use as gift boxes. I also re-use the box fillers I receive to help cushion and wrap the content of the box. To secure the paper, you can find paper tape that's better for the environment than regular one (as I'm writing this, I am currently in my mother's house in Canada and didn't have any on hand for the pictures, so sorry about this!). Now, call me traditional, but I really like gifts with ribbons... The thing is most ribbons are made out of plastic! So I went hunting and found this beautiful rope-style ribbon from Ikea made out of paper! How cool! I've also used jute rope in the past for a more classic look. To add a nice finishing touch, I'll usually cut a little piece of tree branch from our front yard and attach it to the ribbon. Voilà!
PAPER GIFT BAGS
Now here's an option that's been around for a long time! I've always likes gifts bags because they make things so much easier to wrap and usually are just easier to use in general. The ones I have here on the right are a bit different but there are also adorable classic festive options with all kinds of prints available in most shops. I've always found that the paper option makes for a more luxe look than the plastic ones anyway. This year, I've chosen to be a bit crafty with my bags! I got these candy bags from Ikea, pierced 2 holes at the top and then looped my "ribbon" around in them to close the bag. My gifts aren't candy but now it's looking a whole lot more adorable, and this trick would work well with a regular brown bag too! I also have some sort of hybrid between bag and box, again found at Ikea, that I used for my bigger presents. It folds right into place, is entirely made out of cardboard and recyclable, what's not to love?
READY-MADE BOXES
This is a wonderful option for people who don't like to fuss around with wrapping paper, tape and ribbons. There are lots of shops that offer gift boxes made entirely out of paper/cardboard without plastic! I got the ones I have here at Ikea, so that was super easy to find as well. Usually these kinds of packaging will just fold into place and all that's left to do is to add the gift inside! These come in different shapes, prints and colours so there really are no limits!
